Deadly Zeros
by Al Wolfskill
Summary: After the battle on the moon was won, Kid returns to doing dangerous tasks. Emotions start to buzz around his mind and he abandons all he once held dear. After wandering for weeks, he encounters an angel with white hair and purple eyes. A love blossoms, but temptations roam, forcing the two apart. Will their relationship crumble into fine dust? Image by my friend, Bob.
1. A New Feeling

I never knew I would end up as I am now, alone in my father's house, with only myself to blame for my loneliness. I miss him, I truly do; some part of me deep down inside has refused to let go, even when the other part had insisted on flocking to others. I felt a pang of despair crawl through my very being, shaking my soul to its core. I could still hear his voice, so kind and at the same time cold, so near and so distant, my name echoing in his wonderful voice of orchestra, playing delightful and springy music. Even when he'd turned angry, I couldn't bring myself to hear any kind of sourness in those notes, the beauty in every word he spoke had been so… present it had been hard to even consider that a bad note could come of him.

But of I, that was another story. Every word I spoke was just another lie, as he had put it so well. Everything I tried to talk others out of, I ended up doing. All the things I'd vowed to never do, I'd done. Even with his image in my head, I'd been able to ignore our commitment to each other, our promises to stay together. I took a deep breath, swallowing the last bit of pride with it as I murmured his name. It sounded so distant, as I had not heard myself talk for a fairly long time; yet I knew it belonged to none other than the horrible creature which had caused us both so much pain. The voice belonged to me, unworthy of ever speaking his name again.

"_Zero_."

* * *

I'd awoken to my two partners, Elizabeth and Patricia, fighting over who would be the one to inform my father of our success the night before. We'd been dispatched to take charge of an army of necromancers once more, only this time, there had been twice as many as last time. We had barely escaped with our sanity intact, although a rather painful obstruction had hit my head, fracturing it in the middle. While it was good that it had been in the middle and not elsewhere, Doctor Franken Stein had informed me that there would most likely be a small scar. It was a small price to pay. I felt as though I'd long outgrown my obsessive tendencies, but they tended to arise in the most uncanny of situations. My head throbbed and I happened to glance at the floor-length mirror on my wall and saw my father's curious eyes peering out from under his mask.

"Kiddo! I see you're finally awake," he said, a rather exasperated tone in his voice. "Stein said you would be fine but I wanted to make sure you were fine."

He clasped his oversized gloved hands together and seemed to put on a smile. I returned a weak smile and collapsed on my bed once more, mainly of annoyance than exhaustion. This, however, seemed to worry him and he started fretting over me like he once had when I was a child. I held up my two thumbs to show him I was okay, but this didn't seem to satisfy him. Did he wish to see me walk around the room, perhaps stumble a few times, before he would leave me be? I stood up and straightened my shirt. Had I slept with it on? My mind went into overdrive, thinking of all the wrinkles that would be on it; but when I remembered my father closely observing me, I tried my best to ignore it. I was worried, yes, but I had a more pressing matter on my hands.

I needed time alone, and my father was still closely examining me.

"I swear I'm alright, father. Just a bit tired from yesterday. We collected all forty souls, not a single one harmed. Patty had twenty, and Liz had twenty; it was perfectly divided," I explained, trying my best to ignore the headache which was now pulsating through my skull, making it even more impossible to think straight.

He fidgeted slightly and brought his hand up to his forehead, as if in military salute, "Good job, Kiddo! Feel free to take the rest of the week off! I will see you and those wonderful stripes soon!"

And with that, my father's image disappeared from my mirror, leaving me to stare at myself in it. My stripes… I'd noticed they'd been slowly crawling across my hair since the battle on the moon with the kishin. Now they encircled about three fourths of my head, but father had grown noticeably weak. When I connected the three lines of Sanzu, would my father cease to exist? After all, there could only be one reaper. I shrugged it off, wanting nothing more than to forget about everything around me and slip into oblivion. My hands and feet were numb, my arms and legs tingling with a strange sensation I'd only felt once before. It was the thing people called fear.

But what was I fearing? My father's death? The lines connecting? Being the sole reaper? Well of course those things worried me, but that wasn't the case now, was it? The throbbing in my head was soon worsened as Patty burst into the room, giggling and laughing a little too loud, with Liz following closely behind.

"Patty, remember what Stein said. His head will take a while to heal. He wasn't exactly healthy when we brought him home," she said, leaning against the doorway.

I hadn't been healthy? Come to think of it, I didn't know most of the events that had occurred the day before, and now I had an unsatisfied curiosity as to what exactly happened to me. Patty pulled away from me as soon as she saw the stitches in my forehead. If I, a reaper, had needed to be stitched together, exactly what had gone on?

"So you don't remember anything, Kid? Not even the tiniest bit?" Liz asked worried.

We were both seated on my bed, Patty elsewhere. She was probably playing some kind of imaginary game with the paper maché I'd bought her for her birthday before. How was it possible that my two partners were of the same age, yet one had matured way beyond her years while the other had stayed impossibly behind? A light touch from Liz's hand reminded me that she still held her eyes firmly to mine. I pulled my hand away shyly, "Not a thing."

And so, Liz started to explain to me that by the time we had arrived in the small town in which the necromancers had performed their deeds, all the living people had been killed. Only the kishin souls remained when we arrived. Luckily, the town they'd infested had been small, but the masterminds behind the actual ordeal had not been caught. I knew we'd have to expect more from them later on. She told me of how she and Patty had alternated between shooting at the zombie-like creatures and capturing their ruptured souls. "Where was I?" I'd asked. She told me of how I'd valiantly gone and tried to chase after the enchanters. "But one of those pulled out an iron staff, and by the time Patty and I saw you were in danger, the pole had gone right through your skull. We thought we'd lose you for good, Kid," she'd said.

When she'd told me that, I'd immediately reached to the back of my head and, sure enough, there were stitches there too. My whole skull had been torn apart and stitched back together by our crazy teacher… It was a scary thought. Only after I brought my hand down was I aware that Liz had started hugging me, crying into my chest. I looked absent-mindedly at my own hands. I could be dead…

I couldn't help but feel as though I needed to do something for Liz. She was crying on my behalf, but I never was one to have much experience with crying girls. I slowly brought my hand down and patted her back while she shook underneath the sobs that had overcome her. Had she always had such an attractive back? Every aspect of her now seemed more defined, more feminine. Even her arms which I used to tease her about when we'd first met, now seemed slender instead of just skin on bones. I started to feel a small bit of _attraction_ to her. I peeled myself away from Liz, pushing her away from me by her shoulders. She still shook with ghostly sobs that still echoed in her soul, but she now looked at me with confused eyes. I still believe I returned the same gaze at her.

It was wrong to be involved with someone's weapon. I'd seen what could happen because of it. Hell, I _was_ an example of that. I looked away from Liz and at my white-washed floors, "Please, leave." It had come out as a plead, more like a kind of beg. She placed her hand, her flawless and perfect hand, on my knee, gave it a slight squeeze, and walked out of the room, closing the door softly.

My mind and body now rushed with a new array of emotions, not at all helping the damned headache. I scratched at my head violently, only stopping after I felt the small trickle of blood. I'd reopened the stitches. But it didn't matter. It would heal with or without stitches as long as the two parts were kept in contact. I stayed in my room that whole day, wanting nothing more than to forget every curve of Liz's body, every detail about her face that just seemed to make her more appealing. Her smile, her laugh, even the slight twitch in her brow whenever she got annoyed with something I did… I longed for her. But it was not allowed; it was unthinkable! I would not follow in my father's footsteps and ruin a wonderful friendship with my weapon.

And so, it was with that set in my mind that I took my leave from my father's mansion, so precariously designed to fit my childish obsession with symmetry. I packed nothing, for what did I need for a journey where I knew not where I was going? I stood in front of the mansion and licked my lips, taking in what I thought would be the last glimpse of the place where I'd been raised. What would father say when he found out I was missing? What would Liz do…

* * *

_Well, that's the first chapter! Hooray! After like four months of putting it off, I finally decided to write the most awesome story for this crack pairing! _

_So what the hell's going on? WEEEELLL…._

_It all started on Halloween last year (2011), when I cosplayed as Death the Kid. I went to school in that really crappy cosplay and was then greeted by another girl (let's call her Bob), who recognized my failed attempt at Kid. She said she was cosplaying too and walked over and pulled out a Zero costume from Vampire Knight. She put it on, we hugged, and thus blossomed the romance between two worlds that will probably never exist together! Just keep reading because I'm going to include tid-bits of what happened in real life mixed with the awesomeness that is ANIME!_

_By the way, thank you for reading this chapter. I will probably be uploading new chapters for this weekly, so you won't have to wait too much! Review if you like it, because it's worthwhile to know there's someone out there that likes my crack… Not butt crack… But… yeah._


	2. A New Academy

It's been a while since I've felt any kind of emotion. It's been around two weeks since I left Death City, and surprisingly enough, I haven't been followed by anyone. I'd figured I'd have to fight my way out, since I knew Maka could find my soul rather easily, even when encompassed by my father's. Maybe he'd just decided to let me go on my own, find my own path… I felt a nerve twitch in my forehead.

This was my _father_ I was talking about.

This was the man who fretted each time I got scratched by one of the tree branches that resided in our front lawn; the man who constantly watched over me as I slept to make sure I was still breathing; the man who is always following me whenever I enter a room with a mirror.

I would need to stay away from mirrors from now on, wouldn't I? The Nevada desert was exceedingly cruel, more so in the deadly noon when the sun rose to its peak. Its voice clamored out to me, as if mocking me. I couldn't help but remember that one day the clouds had formed a perfect pattern, so symmetrical, so beautiful… I shook my head and fell to my knees. I was past those childish desires! I was much bigger than that now! A small breeze picked up some sand and threw it in my eyes, making them burn and then finally the tears came. Not many, but just enough for me to fully grasp what I was doing by walking away from Death City. I was walking away from home, from the world I'd grown up in, from what I was destined to do with my life. I knew, deep inside of myself, that I was also walking away from Liz.

But she was the reason I was leaving. Her presence, her body, had been so close to mine. I'd felt the rush of blood and I'd forced her away. It was wrong… Being involved with one's weapon, however legal, was frowned upon a bit. With the exception of Soul and Maka, few of those relationships had ever been successful, but it was still something few people considered. And as the son of Death, I could not consider anything like that. Liz's face came into my mind once more, her smile bright and sweet, enchanting… I didn't want to think of her anymore.

I held out my hand and watched as Beelzebub materialized in front of me. I clumsily pulled my skateboard to the floor and stepped on it, willing it to move up and away from Nevada. I watched as hundreds of cities passed by under my feet, few people realizing that I was right above their homes. I soared past some of the tallest buildings in Los Angeles and quickly came to the ocean, where I paused for a few seconds. If I traversed the ocean, what were the chances of my returning? I shook the thought from my head. I had already made it very clear to myself that I did not intend on returning ever again. With a slight kick to the back of my skateboard, I zoomed past the islands of Hawaii and soon reached the coastline of Japan.

The cities were wonderful and filled with so much life. The moon had grown less angular, as if it was somehow only its crude human-like shape when observed from Death City's current inhabitants. I stumbled into the town, feeling extremely exhausted. I reached up to feel my forehead, knowing that by now, my body had healed and I no longer needed the stitches. People were staring at me strangely, and I then recalled how I'd just nonchalantly glided into their city on a floating skateboard. I ignored their stares; hadn't there been meisters and weapons dispatched here before? What reason did they have for staring at me?

I ran into an alley and absorbed Beelzebub once more. I felt more out of place than ever before… I leaned back against the wall and slid down to the floor, my knees right against my chest. What was I going to do now? I was so far from home, so far from any kind of familiarity and only because I'd been _scared_. The only son of the Grim Reaper had been scared. For some unknown reason, I felt myself chuckle in response to the thought. It was not logical at all… I brought my hands up to my face and ran them through my hair, feeling the scar at the very back of my head. I'd been so close to death, so close to an eternal rest without having to worry about any of the crap I was worrying about now.

I was jarred from my thoughts as a bullet grazed past my feet. I looked over to the end of the alley and saw a demon with snow white hair. Instead of eyes, this demon had irises that appeared to be orchids, bright and shining in the moonlight. The weapon the boy held in his hand was so elaborate and elegant, I couldn't help but feel a small sense of admiration. I stood up and tried to walk towards the demon, only to be, once more, shot at.

"I mean no harm," I said, holding up my hands at a perfect ninety degrees.

The demon eyed me, as if trying to evaluate whether or not I was telling the truth. The gun was still aimed at me when he asked me my name.

"Death the Kid," I responded. He had to know me right? How many other people pranced around with a name like mine after all? Well, it wasn't like father had given much thought to my name. I'd outgrown it a while ago though.

The demon glared at me, not amused. I had told him the truth and here he was staring daggers at me? How cruel… "I like your weapon. What's her name?" I asked him. When I received no reply, I inched a bit towards the side so I could see the side. _Bloody Rose_. "That's a beautiful name, miss. A little strange, but I've heard stranger. My friend's named Soul Eater, another Black Star. You two should apply for the Death Weapon Meister Academy. I think you would both fit in well."

The boy's look had gone from angered to confused. "Who are you talking to?" he murmured. I pointed at his gun, "Well, your gun of course. I'm sure she can talk for herself. My two pistols talk a bit too much, but…" I wouldn't be hearing their voices again. I'd left by my own choice and I would never see my wonderful twin pistols once more.

"Your pistols talk to you," the boy said, mainly to himself than to me. I nodded. Didn't everyone's weapons talk to them? His next question caught me completely off guard, "How sane are you?"

I was very sane! What was _he_ talking about? My mind started to wonder as to why he could be so… That was it! Maybe his hostility had driven his partner to dislike him and therefore ignore him? I kept this thought to myself, thinking that I need not anger this boy. He seemed dangerous and his eyes had a look about them that made me think he was ready to kill. "Can you stop pointing that gun at me?" I asked, sounding a little more annoyed than I intended to. Who was he to question my sanity after all?

He brought down his gun and I walked over to him. I wanted nothing more than to pry his partner out of his hands and tell her that all she had to do was find someone else whose wavelength she could match, but he quickly aimed the gun past me and fired. I heard a distant groan and a thud on the floor. As the boy walked over to the body now on the floor, I took notice of a complex tattoo on his neck. I couldn't help but wonder what that was for.

The thing on the floor was a kishin egg, I could easily tell. However, the boy called it a level-E class vampire. Vampire? What on earth was he mumbling about this time? I glanced at his gun every so often, wanting to tell her that not all meisters were like him, as ignorant and arrogant. "That's what I thought you were," he grumbled.

He'd thought I was the kishin egg? But why was he taking care of this and not a meister and weapon pair from the DWMA? What was going on here?

I tagged along with the boy after he left the body in the alley. He didn't even know how to properly dispose of the soul! If only I'd had my pistols, I would have been able to show him the right to do a job! He was so arrogant and ignorant… He made the small veins in my head pop, threatening to reopen the wound.

"So what's your name? You know mine, let me know yours," I said, stepping in front of him. He glared at me then sidestepped and continued walking. I had to jog to catch up with him. "Alright, where are you going?" Once again, I was ignored. My irritation was starting to peak.

"I'm getting zero answers from you! After you nearly killed me, don't you think I deserve at least one answer?" I screamed at him. Luckily, by now we were on a dirt path far from the small city I'd landed in, surrounded by woods from which came strange noises I'd never heard at night. He stopped abruptly, making me crash into him. He turned so quickly it finished the job of knocking me to the dirt floor.

"_Zero_."

I pushed myself off the ground and tried to look him in the eyes, although I ended up looking more into his nostrils; he was a good foot taller than me, "You don't think that I deserve any answers from you? You almost killed me and—" "My name is Zero," he replied again, a bit more curtly than before.

Now it was my turn to be confused. His name was Zero, as in nothing.

"I'm going to Cross Academy. I don't know where you're going though," Zero said, in an as-a-matter-of-face tone of voice. I gulped and looked down at my feet. Where was I going? Even I didn't know. "An academy? Do you think I could enroll?" Zero shrugged, but we both walked in silence, until we reached the large gates that separated Cross Academy from the rest of the world.

I met the chairman of the school. He welcomed me with an immense hug and sentenced me to the Day Class. I had no idea what that meant, but what I did know was that I felt an evil presence very nearby the school. I warned Zero as we walked to the Sun dorms; the chairman had assigned Zero to be my "tour guide." "It's nothing important," he said, shrugging it off. Nothing important… But he'd been so furious before when it was a kishin egg, but this presence felt even more menacing and threatening.

We reached the boy dorms and I was pleasantly surprised by the quaintness of the building. The simplicity made everything so welcome, and I was greeted by students who were out of bed. They found it odd that a student would transfer into the school so late in the year. When I looked around the room to ask Zero what I could tell them and what not, he was gone. Perhaps his room was elsewhere and I would see him tomorrow in classes?

One of my dorm-mates showed me to a room I would be calling my own. It was snug, but the arrangement of the furniture bothered me slightly. My room back in Death City had been arranged by father to match my specific needs for symmetry, but of course, no one in this place knew of it. I took a deep breath and looked into the closet. There were five sets of black uniforms with an intriguing pattern across them. These uniforms were beautiful, and symmetrical... There were also a few bed sheets and sleeping garments in the closet, which I avoided changing into for the night. I clung to my last familiarity of Death City.

_Zero_.

It seemed ironic, to me at least, that someone with a name that meant "nothing" would soon become the world to me.

* * *

_Yay! Chapter 2 came up earlier than I expected. Like waaaaay earlier. Alright, so what happened in this chapter?_

_Kid runs away, has some mental issues, and Zero tries to shoot him thinking he's a level-E vampire. Kid kinda stalks Zero at the end and finally finds out his name and where they're going.. Oh and during the chapter, Kid keeps thinking that Zero's gun is also a weapon like the ones he's used to, and that she just doesn't want to talk to either of them._

_Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter! Maybe I'll get the next one done pretty soon too?_


	3. A New Thirst

I barely slept. It was my first night in a strange place, the first time I slept anywhere other than Gallows Mansion. The room was unfamiliar and strange as well as the setting. With each passing hour, the presence I'd felt before grew stronger and closer. I needed to know what it was, but I didn't know the rules and regulations of the place. What would become of me if I were to disobey the rules that this facility had set up on the very first night I'd arrived? I couldn't stand this feeling, the feeling of imminent evil, and I stood up in my bed. What was that?

I finally caved in to my anxiousness and stepped outside draped in a spare bed sheet. After all, Zero had brought me here and the blame for my actions would probably befall him. For some strange reason, I felt a strong connection to him and I wanted no harm to come his way. His eyes appeared in my mind, and I could practically hear his voice saying "_Go back_."

Despite that, I kept walking, eager to find out what the source of such a horrible aura was. The sheet trailed behind me, giving me the appearance of a ghost. I'd encountered ghosts before; most quite friendly, others were more nuisance than anything. I felt a slight tug on my shoulder every now and then but attributed it to the sheet snagging onto the edge of the carpets. The floors creaked eerily under my feet, as if trying desperately to warn someone that I was still up and awake. Zero's voice kept replaying the same message in my head, sometimes softly and sometimes louder.

Why was I thinking so much of him? I stopped. The same feelings I'd begun to feel for Liz filled me every time I thought of Zero and his eyes, his face, his voice… No, it was just my mind trying to find a new home to shift its affections to. That was all that was going on. After that, I gave it no other thought.

The large entrance doors of the Sun dormitory were closed and locked. I had no key, but I knew how to get through. I held out my index finger and watched as a skeleton key materialized in front of me and inside the lock. "_Interesting_," I heard Zero's voice tell me. I took a deep breath and pushed aside the doors, hoping that the large moaning from the iron hinges wouldn't wake anyone. With another deep breath, I walked outside and experienced something I'd never felt in the Nevada desert.

It was a type of tranquility unlike any other before. The trees surrounded the dorm, providing a beautiful shade from the sun in the day, and leaving only inches of moonlight to peer out through their branches. The wind swept aside my hair, making it uneven and untamed, but for some reason, at the precise moment, it didn't bother me. I left behind the sheet and walked outside, feeling the dirt path underneath my toes. I couldn't do this in Death City. The dirt was either cobblestone or sand, but never dirt with a bit of weeds and leaves to massage the sole.

"_Kid_," I heard Zero's voice caution me. Even though I'd never heard him speak my name, a sudden rush of energy ran through my body, making my fingers curl and my toes do the same. I then realized that I wasn't imagining his voice. Strong, sturdy hands clamped onto my shoulders and I instantly recognized the scent as Zero's. I felt myself shake a bit at the sudden contact, electricity running from my body into his.

We stood there, I don't know for how long, in silence, his hands on my shoulders, the wind rustling our hair. I brought my hands up to hold his, but as soon as he felt mine, he pulled away. Did I do something wrong? I turned to face him and took note of his uniform. Despite the ungodly hour of the night, he was still wearing his uniform.

"Don't you sleep?" I asked him. Only now did I take notice of the armband around his left arm.

The pattern had been around the school and had been on my bed sheets. Was it the logo for Cross Academy? My father's own mask had been the logo for the DWMA, but how did this design relate to the school? He looked down at me, and nodded his head behind him, towards the large doors.

"Go back. It's against the rules for students of the Sun dorm to be out at this hour."

Sun dorm… I started thinking as to whether or not there was a Moon dorm. I gulped and then confessed to Zero as to how I could feel an evil presence nearby. He looked over in a direction I could not perceive. Was there something I should know about? "Are there more level E-vampires around here?" I whispered. He shook his head once and whispered back, "Actual vampires."

"Do you mean actual kishins?" I asked. He looked at me in the same confused way he'd looked at me before and shrugged, "If you want to call them that."

If I wanted? Did everything I know have a different form or name here? After all, the moon looked so much different than back in Death City. I couldn't help but wonder what the sun looked like, since I'd only arrived after the sun had gone and slept. During most of my journey, I'd heard the sun drool and suck up his spit, as well as start snoring when he'd started to set. But the moon had not, as usual, chuckled in its menacing way and when I'd seen it, it had turned into something completely different than what I was used to.

Kishins… After Zero had disposed of a kishin egg, how could he stand to be around those? "Why don't you go get rid of them too? I can help you! I know Bloody Rose and you don't exactly get along, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind helping out. Even without my partners, I can assure you I'm not completely useless. After all, I am Death the Kid."

Zero groaned, "We can't kill those damned creatures. They're students here. I've talked to the chairman about just being rid of them all but… He gives too many reasons to save them and it's useless to try and talk to him about it."

It then occurred to me that Zero had been extremely honest with me the first time we met. Had I been in his position, I would not have revealed that I was hunting a kishin egg. "Why did you tell me about vampires so easily?"

"I knew you were different."

Different? I opened my mouth to ask him but closed it as soon as I realized that he was going to continue speaking. His voice… For some reason it just lulled me into a sense of security, even in a place so far from my home.

"I saw you absorb a skateboard into your body. I figured someone as weird—outlandish—as you would probably already know about vampires. You just have a different name for them," Zero spoke.

I nodded and looked over to the large building where I would be attending school tomorrow. How would I manage to understand these classes, classes I'd never taken of or heard of in my life. I felt a bit intimidated by this new school, and almost regretted leaving the DWMA. And Liz…

But had I not left, I would never have met Zero. His silvery hair shone so bright in the moonlight it looked translucent, his purple eyes lured me in and I was lost in them. But… I looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed. Father had told me once before that a shinigami could easily fall for either gender, being a strictly "god-like" power, as well as mate with another, but up until just recently, I'd never felt any feelings for anyone other than respect and friendship.

Liz had changed it all, and now Zero was receiving my emotions. I could sense that he could feel it, as he took awkward steps back towards the dorm, holding the door open for me. "You have sciences first. Abide by the schedule and there will be no problems. The Night Class is full of those leeches, and it's a hassle to keep the secret, so do me a favor and don't go poking around."

He pushed me inside and locked the door. His tone hadn't been angry, but rather demanding and I'd felt a rush of energy run through my body. I walked up to my bedroom, getting lost in the corridors a few times but then arriving at my own room. The window was now open, the curtains swaying in the breeze. I was left to wonder what or who opened the window, but I could sense the small aura of a kishin egg.

A kishin egg had found me… Was it planning on killing me? On trying to get rid of me so I would not take it? I felt a bit alarmed. If a kishin egg had easily found me, how difficult would it be for a trained meister to find me? Not too hard… I took a deep breath of fresh air and closed the window, not bothering to look into the nearby tree. Had I looked into it, I would have seen Zero, licking at his lips, thirsting for my rare type D blood.

* * *

_Yay! Chapter 3 is up! So I'm going to make it a habit of updating this story on Saturdays and Sundays ONLY. So thank you for reading this and I hope to see you soon._


	4. A New Experience

I knew I hadn't rested properly when I opened my eyes in the morning. Everything was blurry and foggy, I felt distorted and fairly dizzy. It was a strange feeling; like the feeling I'd heard Spirit tell my father one day. He'd called it a hangover, and that had been his excuse for the day for not working or doing his job like he was supposed to.

I stood up, only now realizing that I had slept. I hadn't been aware that I'd tossed and turned through the night, but the bed sheets and the pillows on the floor were proof of this. Had I been restless at night? I stretched out my neck, first to the right and then to the left, and continued this process until I'd stretched out each joint in my body. I didn't know the schedule for the classes, having arrived extremely late and I hoped they'd be a bit merciful on me.

My mind wandered back to last night, when I'd sensed the presence of the dark aura. It had been too strong for it to have just been one kishin egg right? Or what if it hadn't just been a kishin egg… The thought struck me as impossible. Surely if there was a new kishin around, father would've dispatched a troop to be rid of it right? But maybe, just maybe, he'd known where I'd gone and was expecting me to get rid of it.

The thought was unnerving. If father knew where I was, why didn't he bother bringing me back? Was it possible that he actually _wanted_ me gone? No. I was his only child… I would someday be the world's only Reaper, and he most definitely did not want me gone.

At least, I desperately held onto that childish hope.

I picked up the pillows and piled them onto the messy bed sheets. Was I supposed to make my own bed, or would someone come by and make it for me like in Gallows Mansion? I looked at the mess and decided to make it on my own, choosing my perfection to anyone else's creases and errors. After that was done, I walked over to my closet and pulled out one of the uniforms. The design was perfect, equal on both sides, and the colors were pleasing. All except for the tie…

I'd never learned to tie a tie, having my skull brooch as a sort of tie. I slipped off my clothes and pulled on the pants. They fit quite well, as though someone had measured me and made them specifically for me. Or maybe it was a one-size-fits-all thing… Who knew? The undershirt came on next and then I was stuck.

That damned tie…

It was the only splash of color in the uniform and it was a bit of an eyesore to me. I did not exactly like wearing anything that was too colorful since the colors tended to fade after a few washes, unevenly I might add.

So I pulled the tie around my neck and was just stuck with the two flaps of cloth hanging around. I tugged at the tie, folding it into various arrays of patterns and such. I'd seen Liz and Patty tie theirs so easily, I'd always just assumed it was as easy as collecting souls. I spent around twelve whole minutes fumbling with my tie until I finally bunched it up into a wad and made a giant knot. I pulled the jacket on and walked out of the room, not caring about the whole tie ordeal. Had I seen myself in a mirror, the tie would have horrified me. It was about as misshapen as Quasimodo.

The dorm building seemed to be deserted, and I had no indication of what time it was. I couldn't very well ask the sun here, since this sun didn't even care to laugh and moon didn't chuckle. It was strange; were these really the celestial beings I'd seen from home? I opened the door and once more felt that evil aura. I turned around and closed the door, feeling a little more anxious than I should've. My thoughts from before returned to me, and I felt extremely useless without my weapons, without my partners.

I walked over to the main building, treading lightly on the small road that led up to it. From inside the building I could feel the presence of over a hundred students, most likely my own dorm-mates. I couldn't help but wonder if they knew about the Night Class. If they did, would their souls be so calm and secure?

I pressed open the doors to the main building and walked to the only place I knew of: the chairman's office. I'd remembered the way only because I'd focused immensely on my surroundings, just in case I'd needed to run away quickly or something of that nature.

The chairman looked up at me as soon as I'd opened the doors. Last night I hadn't been able to take a good look at all his features, but now that it was light, I could see who he was. "Kaien Cross!" I yelled astounded, mainly to myself more than to him; the legendary meister from the DWMA. Of course! It made more sense now! But why on earth he would want to keep the kishins or kishin eggs nearby him made little sense to me. Did he want to dispose of them all at once? No, Zero had said that Kaien had grown fond of them…

"My new student! Kid, was it?" he said, standing up, closing a large file on his desk.

I nodded, feeling very at home, forgetting that my home was around a couple thousand miles away. Death City felt like a distant dream, one I'd never lived and would never live again.

Kaien looked at my tie and smiled, then looking back into my eyes, "Did you sleep well? Oh, right! Your schedule… Is that what you're here for? Sorry, it's not usual to get students so late. I've actually never received a student so late in the year, so forgive my cluelessness at what to do in the situation." He went around the room, opening cabinets and files, pulling out what appeared to be random papers and then sometimes smushing them back in.

He came back to me and handed me a couple papers. There was a map of the school, the schedule, my classes, and a set of rules. I skimmed through each paper, hoping to find something of value. My schedule, as I'd assumed, contained classes I'd never heard of. There was no class for Duel Arts, or Soul Resonance, or anything of the sort. There were sciences, mathematics, historic studies, language, and there was one class that said "Prf. Asst." I looked at Kaien, hoping that he would see the confusion in my face.

But alas he did not, and went back to his desk, mumbling to me, "If you need any help, just come up here. I'm normally here, so any time is fine." I nodded and walked outside. I'd just been in the presence of one of the greatest meisters, and I'd had the lousy tie all wrong! I tugged at it, feeling it stretch and form itself into an extremely tight knot. I'd probably never be able to take it off.

I wouldn't have been able to take it off, had a girl with brown hair passed by. She looked at me oddly and then smiled, "You must be the new student. I'm Yuki Cross." She glanced down at my tie and shook her head with a playful smile. Her hands reached out to me and started to undo the knot I'd caused. She was very swift and seemed to know her way around the whole tie ordeal. Her own was perfect and orderly. After I felt the tenseness in the tie release I looked down at her hands… They were so small and petite… Cross… Was she Kaien's daughter? I'd never heard of Kaien Cross having a daughter! Would it be rude to ask her?

She finishing tying it and then stepped back, admiring her handiwork, "There you go. Do you need help getting anywhere? As a prefect, it's one of my jobs to help out my fellow students." She spoke with such a sweet tone of voice, I felt as though I'd known her for centuries, possibly more. I raised an eyebrow, "One prefect for this large school? How do you manage?" She bit her tongue, and then looked at me with those large brown eyes of hers, "Well, Zero's a prefect too, but he doesn't really do anything to help me."

Zero was a prefect? This was news to me since he really didn't look like someone who would be in any sort of position of power. I guess it clicked since he did help dispose of the kishin eggs. But were they the kishin eggs that Kaien kept safe and locked away? So what did that make Yuki? Did she know of the kishin eggs too, or was she about as clueless as the other students?

I nodded absent mindedly and thanked her for her time, explaining that I'd already gotten my materials for the day. She wished me a good time and walked away in the opposite direction. I followed the map's instructions to my second class, since it was well past the first.

I'd arrived late, but was excused since I'd only arrived the night before. People stared at my hair, and I'd almost forgotten about my stripes until someone mentioned it in the third class as the teacher made me present myself to everyone. They whispered behind my back. "_What kind of name is that?_" "_He must be from a very foreign land._" "_Why does he have those stripes in his hair?_" "_Do you think he dyes his hair like that?_" They were all pointless questions that I'd never answer. Anything from the past had been forgotten.

My fourth class, the one which I could not even understand, turned out to be "Professor's Assistant," and Kaien had seen no better position for me than as his own assistant. I stayed in his office, helping him organize a few papers, bringing him things from the other side of the room, eventually helping him cook dinner. During this time, I learned that Yuki was his daughter, and he called Zero that too, although the last names confused me. Was it possible he'd just taken them both in?

Zero and Yuki came in shortly before classes were done for the day, reported in, and then quickly went outside.

"What are they going to do?" I asked Kaien.

He gave me a knowing smile and turned back to his paperwork.

I was able to look out the window as I swept up Kaien's office. I saw a cloud of perfect beings step outside of another building. Their uniforms were white with black and they all had the appearance of being perfect. But as soon as they started approaching, that sinister aura came closer and eventually became so strong I needed to leave quickly. I apologized to Kaien and ran back to the Sun Dorm.

My stomach felt sick, my palms were sweaty, and my head was throbbing… It had been the Night Class, there was no doubt about that.

Little did I know that what I'd just felt would be nothing compared to the future.

* * *

_Alrighty! Chapter 4 is now up! Barely made it before Monday, but oh well! It's up now, so please read and review if you like it. The more reviews, the more likely I'll publish during the week. So next Saturday for Chapter 5! Thank you!_


	5. A New Taste

I felt sick to my stomach. Extreme nausea and dizziness overcame me, making it almost impossible to make my way up the numerous stairs to my room. This aura... It was so horrible and sickening! I clambered up the stairs and, I suppose I made much noise, since many of my dorm-mates came out. "Kid," they called, since many already knew my name, "Are you alright?" I could feel the sickening sensation grow more distant, but my strength disappeared with it and I crumbled to the floor.

Even though I'd closed my eyes, I still knew what was happening around me. I heard Nakamura mutter to someone that my dorm was down the hall. Four hands picked me up and carried me down the hall. The door was opened and they hurried me onto my bed. Nakamura came into the room and yelled that he'd gotten the message sent to Kaien.

What would he say? What would one of the greatest meister graduates of my own father's school say when he found out that Death's son wasn't able to stand with a little bit of a bad aura? I felt a bit of disappointment with myself, since I was unable to ignore this. I'd seen other meisters be completely invulnerable to such things, yet here I was. Was I not one of the most powerful meisters of my generation?

After a while, the excitement of my passing out faded and I was left alone in the room. I stood up slowly, feeling the nausea once more. The windows had fogged up and I had half a mind to write in the death room's number, begging my father to allow me to return. Of course, I hadn't been sent away or banished, but… it seemed proper.

Anyways, I needed to be done with the nuisance of the kishins on this school property. If Kaien wasn't going to do something about them, I would most certainly help Zero destroy them all.

He had said he wanted them gone, right?

Either way, it mattered little to me. This was part of my obligations as a Reaper: to help the world be rid of kishin eggs and a kishin that may pop out. I sat up just as my door opened slowly, creaking in the process, as if not wanting to open.

Kaien walked inside and closed the door, locking it. I felt strangely safe, despite being locked in my own room and halfway unconscious. "You felt it, didn't you," he said it as a statement, not a question. I barely nodded, fearing that if I made it any more noticeable, my head would start throbbing. His cheery manner had altered extremely, a more serious tone had replaced it.

A knock on the door snapped us both out of our thoughts and Kaien walked over to unlock it. "Chairman, call me if you need any assistance." It was Yuki's voice. He nodded and closed the door slowly, then looked back at me. "Is there anything else out of the ordinary that you can sense, Death the Kid?"

He knew my full name. He'd known who I was. I looked away from him now, feeling embarrassed at that fact. I made my father look weak. Only now that he brought it up though, did I sense something else outside my door. "Yuki?" I asked Kaien, looking at his feet. "Zero is there as well," he replied rather discreetly.

Zero… Was Kaien trying to hint something towards me? "Is Zero a kishin egg?" I asked him, still staring at the man's shoes. Kaien knelt down, meeting me eye to eye. I heard his knees crack and I started to wonder exactly how old this man was. He had a youthful appearance, but I'd grown to know better than to trust appearances. A slight nod of his head made me snap back to reality.

A kishin egg. A kishin egg that wished to kill kishin eggs and kishins. It seemed so absurd, but everything I'd heard, seen, and felt added up.

"Why?" I asked silently, fearing Zero would hear. I didn't want him to know that I knew of this. If I had such a dastardly secret, I wouldn't want others to find out. I would desperately try to atone for the curse I was bearing.

Kaien told me Zero's story. I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth and a splitting headache. He stood up and left, telling me that I didn't need to attend classes the next day. The kishins remained dormant during the day, as most normally did, so I wouldn't have to worry about them until they came out. Only then did their auras truly engulf everything.

I agreed in silence and Kaien walked outside. He walked back outside and closed the door behind him. I stood up and walked over to the closet, pulling off my shirt and getting ready for bed. This time, the door opened without warning and in stepped Zero.

I couldn't look at him in the eyes anymore, but I highly doubt he noticed anything; his bangs always blocked his eyes when he talked to me. He walked over to me, silently but surely, and then whispered in my ear, "You know."

Would it be alright to tell him that I did? Wait… That hadn't been a question either. I nodded, my arms still halfway above my head. Zero smelled different, his presence was altering my heartbeat. A new form of nausea came over me than from before, and I felt even more sick than before. The feeling was familiar…

Liz.

I don't know what overcame me then, but I pried off my shirt and drew my arms around Zero's neck. What he did next though completely caught me off guard. I'd expected him to shy away, probably to never speak to me again.

Instead, he bent his face down to mine, but when I expected our lips to meet, he brought his down to my neck.

I felt his teeth sink into my skin, pop into my veins, and he pulled out my blood, taking my strength until I was left clinging to him. Sweat clung to each strand of my hair and he took greater gulps by the second. Light-headedness was quickly becoming a problem, and I felt myself slip from consciousness a couple times until he finally stopped.

Zero pulled my head into his shoulder, his head pressed against mine, "I'm sorry."

* * *

_Woot! Chapter 5 is finally up… An hour later than it should be… Sorry. Anyways, I'm finally going to start developing the relationship between Kid and Zero! Yay! So as of now, fair warning, it will start blossoming into yaoi, possibly lemon… A little scared as to how that'll go._

_Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter and putting up with my… strangeness. Next chapter will be up by midnight tonight so keep waiting for a little more! Once again, thank you!_


	6. A New Ambition

I stayed still, silent, wanting nothing more than to understand what he was feeling. He'd just bitten into my neck and taken my blood. Kaien had told me he was a kishin egg. Would he sink so low as to become one of the more dangerous ones if he did not receive any blood?

The strange aura that had been emanating from him had disappeared as soon as he'd finished lapping up my blood. It kept his monsters at bay.

This seemed to puzzle Zero, since he pulled away with a very confused look on his face. Did I do something wrong? Was I supposed to run away at the mere revelation of his bloody appetite? No. Even if that was something I was expected to do, now that I knew his condition, I couldn't just abandon him, the very person who had brought me to the nest of the kishins.

A thought struck me. If Zero was one of the demons I was supposed to destroy, how would that fare for us? Not us, as in together, but us as friends. We were friends, correct? I liked to consider him at least an ally, but what I felt for him felt too strong to be just an alliance?

Respect? Admiration? Care?

I didn't dare consider anything else. What would father think of it? Or what would anyone think of it if they found out I had affections for any human?

But Zero wasn't human.

That did not make him, however, a respectable partner. A kishin egg, a fairly strong one either way, was still shunned upon even if it was able to manage and control itself. I looked into Zero's confused purple eyes, a wave of nostalgia washing over me. Who else had I met that had purple eyes? Tsubaki, Black Star's weapon, had indigo eyes. They were slightly similar to Zero's but a more azure color. That death scythe also had purple eyes… What was his name? Justin Law? I shook the thoughts of them from my head.

They were all in the DWMA, far away from me, and I would never see them again.

Well, at least I hoped. It would be a disgrace if I just appeared suddenly after having disappeared. What if no one had noticed my absence? Would my father have made it public knowledge that his only son had just up and left? Would he have kept quiet about it? Or did my own busy father not realize I was gone? Did he know where I was? Why didn't he try to contact me?

A pair of hands on my shoulders brought me from out of my head and I looked at Zero's eyes once more.

"What _are_ you?" he asked me, a bit of wonderment in his voice, "Your blood… It isn't rejected by my body. Almost all blood is. Are you a vampire too?"

Too? Was he referring to the other kishins around the school or to himself? Either way my answer depended little on which he referred to. I shook my head, "I'm a Shinigami, a Reaper, the only son of Lord Death. My blood is the rarest of all since only two people possess it in the world: the rare type D blood."

Zero accepted this answer and walked over to the chair sitting by the meager desk. He looked ashamed of himself, desperate… I wanted to help him, but in what way would I ever be able to help a kishin egg? He was already too far beyond help, and I would've needed to…

"How did you become a kishin egg?" I asked him, a tone of uncertainty in my voice. Exactly how did one approach such a delicate subject? I didn't normally get to speak with the kishin eggs' souls I'd been forced to take.

Before, I'd never really seen them as people with souls as much as I'd seen them as an obstacle in obtaining the one hundred ninety eight kishin egg and the two witch souls. I took a deep breath, wondering how Zero would react to such an impromptu question.

It was a long pause until Zero decided to reply to me, "A vampire attacked my family and bit me. I was cursed with this…" Being bitten by a kishin turned another into a kishin egg? I'd known of the kishin spreading madness, but this was too hard to believe.

Was there a possibility his "vampires" were actually unrelated to kishins completely? But then what had I gotten myself into? What was I still doing here if I couldn't return home with a kishin I'd defeated all on my own? Zero then continued the conversation by asking me something in return.

"Why do you have those stripes in your hair?"

My world collapsed. I'd completely forgotten about them due to the lack of mirrors in the school or dorms, at least mine, and I'd grown so used to the stares people gave me. I'd thought maybe they recognized me from past missions, but now I remembered about my hideous lines of Sanzu. I felt worthless, even though I'd sworn to myself I'd gotten past my childish obsession once I'd left Death City, and I wanted nothing more than to drop to the floor and beat myself cold.

I took a deep breath before answering him, his eyes scanning the dreaded curse on my hair. "I was born with them. Each time a line connects, I become more powerful, but it weakens my father," I answered shakily. My father… He came up an oddly large amount in my thoughts despite being so distant most of the time. Zero looked down at the floor, his eyes trying to avoid mine. Had he realized the amount of discomfort my three stripes caused me?

"What's that like?" he asked, tilting the chair back so it rested on only its hind legs. "What's what like?" I replied. He stood up and walked over to me, his arms corralling me against the door. Is it wrong of me to admit that I actually _enjoyed_ being pressed against the door by his looming figure?

"Being Death's son."

Well, I didn't know how to respond. It was the only life I'd known, the only way I'd grown up. Death was my father, and while I understood many feared him, he was still the only parental figure I'd known. I never asked about my mother anymore. It was pointless either way. Father never responded and just kept silent, like when I'd started asking about the witch Arachne and his connections to Eibon.

My palms started sweating and I started feeling cornered. "He's like any father I'd guess. Although most of the time, his death scythe had to take care of me since my father can't leave the Death Room. He had his own daughter to care for, though, around my age, and it was quite difficult for him to manage. But my own father still managed to find his own ways to peek into my room through my mirror and cheer me up if something went wrong."

I started to smile, remembering my fourth birthday. My father had given me eight presents. They had been eight delicately crafted stuffed giraffes. They'd been beautiful until Spirit had come along and stepped on one. Its leg had fallen off and it had only three legs by the time I went into my room to check on them. I'd cried for hours, until father's joyful voice had sounded from my mirror. He'd called for Spirit just to be able to give him a large chop to the head.

As soon as I felt the tear roll down my cheek, I pushed Zero away and opened the door. "Feel free to come back whenever. I need time to be alone. It's a lot to process right now."

Zero eyed me with concern but said nothing and walked outside, closing the door behind him.

I locked the door and sank down to the floor. I brought my knees up to my chest and sobbed into them. I'd thrown everything away for the most foolish reason. I was scared, frightened, panicking… And I'd just abandoned all the wonderful people that had helped me mature over the years.

Maka, my friend, who had helped me study for the biggest exams in the school. She'd been supportive during most of the times I'd planned out anything. Soul, who had easily become one of my close friends due to his laid back attitude. He put up with my obsession for so long… A chuckle escaped me and a tear rolled into my mouth.

Black Star, as obnoxious as he was most of the time, inspired to me to move forward and train harder. He'd made my time at the DWMA enjoyable and entertaining. Tsubaki had been supportive about everything as well, although he hadn't really gotten to know her much… He started regretting it. If someone could put up with Black Star for so long, obviously they were a person of very high tolerance, therefore, someone to be respected.

Spirit, who helped my father raise me, even when busy with his own daughter. A smile crept onto my face, hidden by the dim light coming in from the window. What a horrible example to give to one's son, father. What would have happened if I'd turned out like him?

And my weapons: Liz and Patty. Liz's calm and laid back personality had easily made her the person I'd been able to bond with the most; while Patty's rambunctiousness and unpredictable nature had given me something to keep me on my toes.

All these magnificent people that I'd grown up with, cherished, and admired had just been thrown away because of my foolish fears.

I was going to go back. I'd put that into my mind until I could no longer think of anything else.

When I stood up, my head throbbed and I then realized I couldn't leave. I wouldn't be able to. I'd gotten in too deep into this chapter of the story, and I was going to have to see it to the end. I couldn't just abandon Zero, who had confided his past with me. It wouldn't be right…

I took another deep breath and looked out the window, this time catching a small glimpse of the purple orbs that had been eyeing me. A slight nod of the head and they vanished.

He'd only wanted to see if I'd been alright.

And he was the only reason I was staying.

Just as he had done tonight, I would be staying here to make sure he didn't let himself down.

* * *

_Oh yay! It's only a few minutes late this time! Okay so yes, chapter 6 has a bit more of a creepy/blegh background and plot, but I need them to loff each other soon. I'm getting bored with no smex… Okay, so thanks for reading. Chapter 7 will be up on Sunday. It's quite probable something will be up by Wednesday too, but nothing sure._


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